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WESTERN DOUBLE PLAY

Southern Karting Club finished off the year with strong attendance at one of the best long tracks in Fontana California. Over 150 racers came to race Saturday and Sunday resulting in over 300 total entries. 125 Motos were in force with classes for Pro Moto, 125 Heavy, and 125 Stock offered. Rounding out the shifters were 80cc and ICC all on track at the same time.

SKUSA SuperNationals happened to be held on the same weekend only a couple hundred miles to the east in Las Vegas. While attendance has been down significantly for the SKUSA racing series, the SuperNats again proved to be the biggest event in short track racing. Drawing some 254 entries the SuperNats put on some of the finest racing of the year, particularly in the SuperPro and TAG classes. Making their debut at the SuperNationals were the JICA and Cadet classes.

There was plenty of speculation that the turnout would would mirror that of the 2005 SKUSA series, but Joe Janowski stepped up to the plate with an impressive entry list.

In his usual form SuperPro driver Ron White simply dominated through the weekend until the one where the fat lady sings. Off the line Ron stumbled off the line falling back several positions and couldn't recover leaving Vince Mandarino the win.

David Jurca having had a fabulous season of Stars racing put his TAG out front where he stayed all weekend.

Among the highlights at the SuperNationals this year were; racing under the lights for Friday SuperPro heats and the return of the ICC vrs Moto war in SuperPro. Four SuperPro entries looking for the $1500 Moto Win Bonus bolted up their CR125's to run SuperPro, but after finding they were half a second slower they all ended the weekend with ICC's under their wings by Sunday.

The Stock Moto class showed a strong field of 22 entries with the 2000 model Hondas showing an obvious advantage over the 99 models.

By all accounts this was one of the best run SuperNationals in history. That's exactly what SKUSA needed to revitalize the program.

With over 400 racers invading the western part of the country on the same weekend at two separate tracks, it looks like karting is beginning to rebound from the leaner economy of the last few years.